The Specter from Crimson Peak
by mesa-boogie
Summary: "A house as old as this one becomes, in time, a living thing. It starts holding onto things... keeping them alive when they shouldn't be. Some of them are good; some of them bad... Some should never be spoken about again." (takes place after 'Light in the Darkness')


"A house as old as this one becomes, in time, a living thing. It starts holding onto things... keeping them alive when they shouldn't be. Some of them are good; some of them bad... Some should never be spoken about again."

Allerdale had done just that again. Something that was dead, brought back to life and searched out, tracked Edith Cushing-Sharpe back to Buffalo New York.

Edith had started to feel she had slipped back into her old life smoothly after the rough birth of her son. His crib was set up in her room and not far from her desk, where she could keep an eye on him while she worked at her typewriter on her stories. Days were silent as she worked and he would sit in his crib and watched her with sharp and curious eyes. She would stop and look over at him as she removed her golden framed glasses and he would smile at her, so slyly.

"What is it, Thomas?" she asked as she stood up and stretched before she dipped her arms in and scooped up her son into her arms and kissed his plump pink cheeks. "Are you hungry?" she asked, as if he would answer her in perfectly formed English words. He cooed softly his answer and she carried him out of the room and down the flight of stairs and into the kitchen where the maids and cooks were working on the dinner for the night.

"Mrs. Sharpe," a maid called out and wiped her hands on her apron before she approached her with open arms and Edith passed off Thomas to his wet nurse. "Is little Thomas hungry?"

"Could you warm up a bottle for him, please," she asked as she walked around the kitchen, inspected the dished that the cooks were working on. From the smell of it all, dinner was about ready and her stomach rumbled in agreement.

After giving birth to Thomas, Edith had lost the baby weight and regained her appetite for exotic food, or even just food for that matter. It please her to eat once more and keep her meals down. To savor the flavor and textures of such dishes as creamy mashed potatoes and chicken noodle soups. She tried every dish before it was sent out of the kitchen and to the table. When she left the kitchen for the table, she found Thomas in his high chair, his grabby hands tightly groped a bottle. Milk dribbled from corner of his mouth as he turned his head to look at her as she entered the room.

"Oh, Thomas," she smiled and covered her mouth with one hand as she laughed at the sight of her baby boy, a mess. She approached him and stole a napkin from the table to wipe around his mouth, even as he arched his back and turned his head away from her. "Thomas, hold still. I need to clean you up. Alan is going to be coming over for dinner and I need you looking nice. Not have milk dribbling over your bottom lip." He continued to whine and fought with her not to clean him up.

Both turned their heads at the sound of someone sliding open the doors from the dining room and the drawing room. In the doorway stood a sharply dressed man, his blonde hair was combed back and slicked back on his head. He approached Edith and kissed her on her cheeks and then her right hand, which she had extended out to him. "Edith."

"Alan McMichael," she gave him a soft smile and a slight blush crossed her cheeks. He smiled back at her before he rested a hand on Thomas' head, through the tousles of black wavy hair. "Thomas," he addressed the small boy as he looked up at him with bright eyes.

Together they sat down at the long dining table as the servants brought out their meals, and even some food for Thomas to eat.

"How is work?" Edith asked, making small talk with Alan as they sat across from each other at the table and a servant removed a cover over a cooked dish of roasted duck.

"Things are going smoothly. I have a lot of patients coming in for me to check their eyes. They then compliment how they are seeing better and thanking me for their glasses. I just love the feeling of being needed and for-filling someone's joy," he laid his napkin on his lap and took up his silverware with such manners.

"That is good to hear, Alan. I'm proud of you," she took a bite of the roasted duck and savored it flavors in her mouth. She glanced over at her son, a small plate was before him with shredded pieces of duck, that he picked at his his fingers and brought to his mouth. "You...any progression on the spirit photography?" she asked quietly and Alan raised his gaze to her.

"You seeing ghosts again, Edith?" he asked in return.

"I'm just...curious," she blushed and looked back down at her plate of food. She was seeing ghosts, or so she thought. It had been a long time since she last saw her mother's ghost and things she caught out of the corner of her eyes, she did not know how to explain. Really, Edith thought she was going insane.

"I've been busy with my optometry work, I haven't had time to turn to my camera. I'm sorry, Edith."

The rest of their dinner was eaten in silence until the servants returned and cleared the table. Drinks of fine wine were brought out and set before them. Together they finished their meal, drinks and deserts in silence before Thomas decided to voice himself.

"Da!" Thomas spoke as he tossed his napkin in the direction of Alan.

"Thomas," Edith frowned at her son. "Those are no manners to show our guest." She sighed as she pushed her chair back and stood. "I believe it is time I get Thomas back up to bed. It was a pleasure having you over for dinner, Alan," she gave her childhood friend a warm smile as she picked Thomas out of his high chair and rested him against her left hip as she held him against her breast.

"Thank you for having me over," Alan pushed back in his chair and bowed to her. The two said their good-nights to each other and Edith saw to that his carriage was around to pick him up and take him back home.

She turned and took to the stairs with Thomas already asleep against her, his head rested on her shoulder. When she reached the door to her room, opened it, she saw a figure. It stood beside Thomas' crib, a wispy grey apparition. Edith was momentarily frozen in place as she stared at the being that stood across the room from her, she held tighter onto Thomas.

The apparition then turned and its golden eyes stared right into Edith's soul before it floated across the room right at her. Edith shut her eyes tightly and squeezed Thomas as the ghost passed through her, she felt her body shudder at the feeling of coldness. When she opened her eyes once more, the ghost was gone. She willed her feet to move and she walked shakily to Thomas' crib, where she laid him down and pulled his blanket over his sleeping form and made sure he had his bunny. She leaned in and kissed his cheek. "Sweet dreams, my little boy. Tomorrow will be a new day." She hoped with no more strange occurrences or ghosts. Much to her praying, it would not be so.

The night was silent, Edith couldn't hear any carriages outside, and the only sound in the room was Thomas' soft snoring. She was amazed how well he slept at such a young age. But she was wide awake. She stared up at the ceiling and pondering on what she had seen earlier that night. The grey wispy apparition in the room beside Thomas' crib. She pushed the heels of her palms against her closed eyes and groaned lowly. Trying to figure out what it was was going to plague her all night.

She slipped her legs over the side of her bed, her bare feet touched the rug and she stood up as she made her way to her work desk in front of the window. She drew back the curtains and tried to stare out into the darkness. All she could truly see was her own reflection looking back at her.

"Am I going crazy?" she asked herself aloud and was about to draw the curtains closed when she thought she saw something. She glanced back at the glass in horror. She could see in the reflection, a man stood behind her, tall and lean. His face was in the shadows, but his dress was that from a decade ago. One name came to Edith's mind. Thomas?

Edith was frozen in place, too scared to turn and look at the stranger. Her heart pounded in her ears. Slowly she worked up the courage, turned her head and her body followed. No one was in the room. Thomas snuffled loudly and rolled over in his crib. Edith laid a hand over her heart and felt it still raced. Ghosts. Ghosts were back to speak with her. About what? The question would keep her awake all night.

The following morning brought sunlight that streamed in through the parted drapes and rested on Edith's face. She whined as she turned herself over, away from the dreaded light that told her that her sleep was over and the sun has risen for the day. She sat up now and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. After her incident just hours before, she had crawled into her bed and covered herself with her blankets, like a scared child trying to hide from the monster in the closet.

"Mrs. Sharpe? Mrs. Share? Mam," there came a knock and the sound of a maid at the door. Edith forced herself out of bed and over to the door to open it.

"Yes?" she answered with squinted sleep strained eyes.

"I'm going to run a wash. Wondered if you had anything you'd like to have cleaned."

Edith turned and looked back at Thomas' crib before she retrieved his sheets and blankets and sent the maid away. Thomas whined softly at the loss of his blanket, but his attention was instantly distracted as Edith grabbed his stuffed bunny rabbit she had bought him and made it dance on the rail of his crib. He cooed happily and smiled bright, which cheered up Edith's soul.

"You are one silly boy, Thomas Cushing-Sharpe. I wouldn't trade you for anything in the world," she reached into his crib and scooped him out. She walked over to the window in front of her writing desk once more. Once more she only saw her reflection, her and her son as he clutched tightly to fabric of her nightgown.

"I don't know what I saw last night, Thomas," she spoke to him and he looked up at her with large curious green eyes. "I don't know what I saw...standing by your crib. Could...ghosts be trying to contact me again? Trying to tell me something? Oh, how I wish you could speak," she kissed him on the forehead and set him down on her bed. "If it were a ghost...I've seen two different ones."

The one beside Thomas' crib was female, that much Edith was sure. She wore a dress with a long train, all silk bows and laced up corset. Edith was unable to see her face. Just the night before, there was a man that stood behind her, he too she could not see his face. It could have been her mind playing tricks on her.

Since her time at Allerdale Hall, of all the bitter tea she drank that Lucille had steeped for her, the porridge, the poison, her mind would lapse and she would fall back into the terror she could not escape. Alan had explained it to her once, that it was called post traumatic stress disorder. Edith did not like to admit that something was wrong with her and continued about her life as a prominent woman of wealth.

"Thomas, we are going out on the town. Mama has some errands to run," she smiled at her son as she dressed him up in appropriate clothes suited for going outside and she pulled on one of her bright yellow dresses. She rounded her ensemble with a hat and picked him up off her bed as she left the room and down the stairs. In a small supply closet by the front door, she stored his pram. She wheeled it out and settled him into the nest of blankets and pillows. She made sure her son was well pampered.

She said good-bye to her maids and stepped out into the sun with Thomas as she pushed his pram along the streets. The streets of Buffalo were constantly busy with horse carriages and other pedestrians and Edith easily weaved through the crowds. Many stopped to admire Thomas and tell Edith how precious her child was. If only they knew the truth.

She pushed the pram into a local bakery, where she had an order of bread waiting for her. The baker bagged it for her, she paid and rested the bag in the pram with Thomas. "No eating it," she wagged her finger back and forth in front of his face as they left the bakery and headed back out on the streets.

The next stop was a local toyshop. She had commissioned a piece from a toy maker and was told it was ready to be picked up. The walk along the tree lined street, as the sun shown bright in the sky, was one Edith would not forget. She wheeled the pram into the shop after a gentleman held the door open for her. Instantly she was welcomed by the owner, who brought over her commission. Another stuffed bunny rabbit with black beady eyes and nose. Though this one was in contrast to the one she originally bought for Thomas before his was born. This bunny was completely a dark grey, but made with the same amount of love. She paid the owner his money, which he graciously accepted and she showed Thomas the new bunny. He held out his hands and whined until she gave it to him to hold onto for safe keeping.

They continued on to a local deli merchant and a farmers market, where Edith had bought them all they needed for their picnic. She pushed the pram into a local park, stopped in the grass under the shade of a tree and laid out a blanket. She plucked Thomas out and set him down, along with all their goodies of the day. She smiled at the sight of him not letting go of his new bunny.

"Is your bunny a boy or a girl?" she asked and held up her fingers, signaled by one or two. Thomas pointed, two. "Oh, a girl bunny," Edith laughed. "She have a name?"

"Lu," Thomas answered quickly.

"Oh," Edith blushed slightly. "Okay. Lu. Odd name, but I'm not going to tell you what to name your bunny."

They continued their picnic lunch together until Thomas completely turned his attention away from Edith to stare at someone across the park. A man who stood in the shadow of a large tree. He did not move, though others moved around him. Edith had a sinking feeling in her gut once more. When she blinked her eyes, the man was gone.

"Lets...get cleaned up, Thomas," she turned her attention to him and started to pack things up. She had an overwhelming feeling that she was not safe in the park. She loaded their goodies back into Thomas' pram, Thomas included, and she pushed them along their way toward the building where Alan had his practice set up. Thomas was due to have his eyes checked by Alan.

As she walked among scores of other people, she had a nagging feeling that she was being followed and so she walked a little faster until she arrived at the business building and slipped inside with the pram. She took the lift up to the floor Alan's practice was on and wheeled the pram down the hall. She knocked on Alan's door before she entered.

His office was still the same. It was cozy in Edith's eyes and she felt safe.

"Edith, you're here early," Alan stood and came around his desk as he approached her. She removed her hat and fanned herself.

"I'm sorry. It's just...I felt I was being followed. I didn't feel safe outside with Thomas any longer," she turned to look back at her baby son in his pram.

"Followed? By whom?"

"I...don't know," she shook her head. "A tall and dark man. He...was at the park. He stood in the shadow of a tree and just stared at Thomas and I. I blinked, and he was gone."

"You're spooked, Edith," Alan led her to a chair and helped her to sit down as he got her a glass of water.

"The ghosts. I think they are back, Alan. I feel...like Crimson Peak is here," she stared back at him and all he could do was stare back at her, speechless. The ghosts of Crimson Peak had followed her across the sea to the United States.

"His eyes are perfect, Edith. Beyond, actually," Alan spoke as he pushed aside his instruments after examining little Thomas' eyes. "He has even better vision then other babies of his age I have examined. Better than even the average person."

Edith sat in a chair not far from Thomas. She knew he liked to have her in his sights at all times. "So...there's nothing wrong with him?" she asked. "He's fine? Nothing abnormal?"

"He's perfect, Edith," he gave her a genuine smile and she felt herself relaxed. "But what about you? Is there something wrong, Edith?"

"Just...I keep seeing a figure that follows me," she spoke the truth, she felt safe speaking of it with Alan. "He's tall and slender, in old clothing. I can never see his face. And last night, after you left from dinner, I went up to put Thomas in his crib and saw a spectral figure standing beside his crib. She...wore a long flowing dress or silk and bows, ties up the back. She was like grey smoke, and again, I could not make out her face. Alan, I fear I'm going mad, seeing ghosts again. I...I can't handle it this time."

"Edith, I'm sure there is a logical explanation for it all. You've been under stress. I mean, it's only been a year since you had Thomas," he gestured a hand back at the boy who sat in the overly large examination chair. "I think you deserve a little vacation, maybe outside of Buffalo. Get some fresh air."

"Oh, maybe you are right, Alan," she looked back at her open palms in her lap and contemplated places in her mind of where she might be able to travel with Thomas so young and small. "The country side. Maybe I'll go and stay at my family's old summer cottage, up by the Great Lakes. It will be Thomas' first time outside of Buffalo," she smiled at her baby boy, wiggled her fingers at him and he returned the gesture.

"I think that is a grand idea, Edith. You and little Thomas can spend some good quality mother son time together," Alan smiled at her idea and picked Thomas up out of the examination chair. "What do you think, chap?" he asked and in return, Thomas patted his hands against Alan's cheeks.

"I think he likes the idea," Edith chuckled as she stood up and took Thomas into her arms from Alan. "Thank you," she whispered as she returned her son to his pram. The two exited Alan's office and back out on the busy streets of Buffalo, New York, as they made their way back home.

The sun had already started its decent in the sky towards the western horizon and everyone were on their way home before the darkness. The street lamps slowly came on and Edith hurried faster. She had an unsettled feeling about the darkness. Thomas was already asleep in the pram with his new bunny from the toy shop and was nicely covered in a warm blanket.

Some movement outside of the Cushing mansion caught Edith's attention and she froze in place as she tried to study a shadow of man standing beside a tree. The light from the lamps did not reach him, so she could not make out any of his features. She hurried to the front doors and through. Once inside, she plucked out Thomas and put away his pram before she stepped in the drawing room. The servants had already build a fire and she sunk down into her father's old chair, with Thomas nestled in her arms.

The weather outside changed suddenly from how it was earlier and she could hear the howling of the wind. She had been so exhausted from stress that she had fallen sleep in the old leather chair and was startled awake by the sound of scratching against the high windows of the drawing room. Her heart pounded in her chest. Soft piano music wafted into the room on the air, that sent a chill down her spine as her mind raced back to Crimson Peak, Allerdale Hall. She slowly got to her feet, having removed her shoes hours ago and tiptoed with Thomas still asleep in her arms, into the room where her mother's upright piano was. Sitting before it was the same smokey apparition from the night before. She work a long dress, the train circled out around her with bows. Her hair was long and loose against her back, in waves.

"Lucille," Edith whispered and the playing stop. The specter turned her head and looked back with gold piecing eyes. And then in a whiff of smoke, she had vanished. Edith clutched tightly to Thomas and dropped her head down, buried her face against her sleeping baby. He woke, not pleased.

"Shhh...shhh...I'm sorry," she apologized to him as tears stung her eyes.

"I'm sorry...I...I was spooked...I...why is she here?" she asked herself aloud and looked back at the empty bench chair seated in front of the piano. Was Lucille here to tell her something? Like every other ghost Edith had encountered? "Lets...get up to bed. Tomorrow, tomorrow we will leave for a trip. You...will enjoy it, Thomas," she tried to brighten her spirits as she spoke to him and she took the stairs, constantly looking behind herself to see if she were being followed by any apparitions. Her eyes were trained and the glass front doors. What of that man she saw outside? Would be break in during the night? Her mind was off in all the wrong directions as she entered her room and settled Thomas down into his crib. "Goodnight my little blessing," she kissed him on the cheek before she herself pulled on her nightgown and slipped under the covers of her bed. She could hear the rain that was coming down hard outside her window. She tried to take solace in it, and eventually she fell asleep.

Little did she know what waited outside for her.

The carriage came to a stop close up to the cottage. The driver helped out Edith as she carried Thomas asleep in her arms. She looked at the old cottage and her heart was flooded with memories. It was just how she remembered it, though with a little bit of neglect. She thanked and paid the driver as he had unloaded her cases to the front porch and she reassembled Thomas' pram, before he took off. She walked up to the front door and fiddled her keyring for the correct key, which she found in her father's study.

"This looks like the one," she spoke as she inserted the old skeleton key into the lock and turned it. She heard the gears grind, but the door gave way and opened for her.

She stepped inside and took in the sight around her. Everything was in its place, though settled with a layer of dust. The air was stale, the windows had not been opened for years.

"I haven't been here since I was a little girl," she marveled around the cottage that was now her own. Thomas had woken up and was curious at the sights. "Everything is still the same," she smiled as she walked into her parent's bedroom. Upon the nightstand stood a picture frame. She set Thomas down on the bed before she grabbed it and ran her fingers over the layer of dust. She revealed her mother and father's wedding photo. Edith felt her heart ache and her eyes stung. She shook her head and smiled before she handed over the picture to Thomas. "These people...are you grandparents." Thomas took the picture cautiously from her hand and looked it over with interest. "The best parents a child could ask for. Come, we have a lot more to look at before it gets too dark." She scooped Thomas up again. The two of them brought the luggage inside before they decided to explore the grounds around the cottage.

All around was high grass and deep forests. To once side of the cottage laid an old apple orchard. The trees that once bore such exotic fruit, now looked no more like gnarled ghost fingers, long and boney. Behind the cottage a trail led to the edge of Lake Erie. The waters were dark and constantly shifted.

"You are not to come down here to the water alone, understand, Thomas? You have to have mama with you," she kissed him on the nose and he squealed in delight. They sat down on the shore and sorted through smooth white rocks until it began to get dark.

Edith yawned and looked around. Something caught in her eyes over in the orchard. Something moved, slowly, from tree to tree. Unlike a wolf or a fox. Edith grabbed for Thomas and hoisted him up. "Time to head back home, little one." She would feel most safe once she was inside the cottage with Thomas, the door shut and locked and the lights on. She began to walk back along the trail and watched the cottage in the distance as the sun went down. She reached the front door and slipped inside, shut and locked it behind her. Only then did she gave a heavy sigh of relief.

She walked into the dining room and tried the electricity. It took a moment or two before it came on. Dim at first and then grew brighter. She smiled in delight. Much better. She laid out a cloth on the table and retrieved the left over food form their picnic the other day. There was no high chair in the cottage, so Edith improvised with large books out of the small library, to make Thomas sit at the same level at her.

To be back in this small home, brought memories back to her. Of summers spent running through the orchard. Of chasing and studying the rabbits that lived in the high grasses. Some summers, Alan was allowed to stay with them and they had the times of their lives at the summer cottage.

Darkness had began to envelope the cottage and she made herself a cup of tea as she moved herself into her parents old room. She changed into her nightgown and helped Thomas with his nightgown too before the two of them got into the large bed.

"What do you think?" she smiled and asked him as he gripped at the covers. "Quite big compared to your crib, huh? I couldn't bring both your crib and your pram. It was one of the other." She leaned into her luggage and removed the two stuffed bunny rabbits, she handed them over to him. He took them quickly and snuggled his face against them. She laughed at that and then sipped her warm tea as she watched him slip off to sleep.

Eventually she too became tired and turned off the lamp on the night stand before she snuggled under the sheets, that still smelled the same as she remembered them. She closed her eyes and slipped off to sleep.

Edith was awoken some time later by a sense of a presence in the room, and then a finger against her lips. Her eyes fluttered open quickly to look up at the shadowy figure that loomed over her. Was it the same thing she saw out in the orchard earlier? Her mind began to race and she was about to scream for her life, when it spoke.

"Shhhh...Edith, I mean you no harm," the black figure spoke, it knew her name. The sound of its voice was familiar and haunting to Edith's ears. The finger drew back and she remained quiet, for the sake that her son stay asleep beside her.

"T...T...Thomas?" she whispered into the darkness and dared not turn on the light.

"Yes," he replied and there was an up-tone in his voice.

"H...how? You...you're dead."

"I was. You of all people, know how Allerdale works. I was dead for a time. But then the house, it holds onto what is dead and breathes life back into it."

"But...how are you even here?" she asked confused as she sat up and felt his weight as he sat on the edge of the bed. "We...we are in New York. The United States..."

"I followed you," he spoke softly. "I watched you from a distance to see that you are safe. I...watched your...progression back into the real world."

She blushed in the darkness and moved a hand over her flat stomach. He watched her when she was pregnant with Thomas. Her other hand reached out and her fingers gently brushed through her son's soft curls of hair.

"Then you know of him."

"I do," came a return.

"I wish I could see your face, love," she reached out with her left hand towards him, but he leaned away. "How...did you get inside?"

"I...picked the lock. Edith, you are safe. Trust me."

She reached for the lamp, but he batted her hand away.

"Thomas...why...can't I see you?"

"I'm scarred, Edith. I do not wish to frighten you."

"Thomas, I would never be," she reached out and he took her hand and guided it to his face. She felt it, that hole where Lucille had punctured his cheekbone with a knife. It had since scabbed over, a scar. She shuddered and he let go of her hand. "Thomas...what happened to you?"

Edith sat up in bed, her long lost lover sat on the edge and their son slept peacefully against her side.

"Thomas, what happened to you?" she asked once he allowed her to turn on the small lamp on the bedside table. His features were not what they use to be, his face was more gaunt. The once deep wound in his left cheekbone, had filled in with scar tissue and his left eye was left a bit red with trapped blood. "Can you...see?" she asked as she felt his pain inside.

"Barely, out my left eye. But I can see you perfectly, Edith," he smiled as he reached for her hands. "Though I don't need to see you to know that you are still just as beautiful as the first day I laid eyes upon you."

"Thomas," she blushed and looked to her son and then back to her dead love. "Please...tell me, how are you...alive?"

"I was dead. I did die of blood loss from Lucille's cunning work with a knife. I laid there upon the floor of the attic, with only the thought of you in my head. I knew Lucille was going after you. I prayed that you would make it out alive." Edith laid her hands on his as he told his story, she comforted him. "Allerdale Hall...it's a living thing. It takes things that are dead, meant to be dead, and breathes a bit of its soul into the dead husks. That is how I'm here, Edith."

"You're just..."

"A husk. Nothing more," he shook his head as he brought one of her hands up beside his neck. She almost wanted to pull her hand out of his grasp as she felt he had no pulse. She felt instantly sick. "Do not fret, my little golden butterfly. I...I don't mean to scare you," he left go of her hand and spoke most sincere.

"Thomas...you have no beating heart..."

"But I do have the beating soul of the house..."

"How can you live like that?"

"I don't live."

"Thomas," she whispered as she covered her face with her hands and pulled them down and he was still there. "You...have been following me...the presence..."

"Yes. I...after the house brought me back, I learned that Alan McMichael took you to the nearby town and then the two of you traveled back to America. I...felt the need to be near you, Edith, so I followed. I have been following and watching you from a distance. I watched you..."

"With him," she finished his sentence as she laid a hand on her son's sleeping form beside her in bed. "Thomas...he's your son. He deserves to know his father..."

"No, he does not. I am...not his father," Thomas spoke lowly and Edith felt a cold chill run through her entire being.

"How can you say that?"

"Edith, I'm not his father 'now'. I was his father...back 'then'. He need not know of my existence. I feel he's better off with you...and Alan."

She shook her head side to side as she tried her hardest to allow all the new information to sink in. Her old love was back, but he was not alive, but not a ghost either. Not like the grey apparition she had been seeing around her son. She didn't notice until he had reached across her and picked up Thomas' white stuffed bunny. "I...bought that for him before he was born," she blushed. "It keeps him company and he loves it to death. The other," she pointed to the grey one in Thomas' grubby clutches, "we picked up at the toy shop yesterday."

"Yes, I watched you," Thomas smiled at her as he held the bunny rabbit in his hands. "I'm glad...he's entertained by such simple things."

"He...has a highly creative mind. He's...much like his father," she looked back up to meet his eyes.

"I can see that."

"Thomas, why are you here?"

"I've been asking myself that same question for awhile now," he slowly set the rabbit back down beside his sleeping son. "At first, I thought I should watch over you, Edith, that no harm comes to you. But I learned that I would out live you and I couldn't come to terms with that knowledge. Edith, we have to go back to Allerdale. Kill me. Please. You have to destroy that mansion, that monster. Send me to rest in peace, knowing that you and him, are just fine."

She found herself on a boat, crossing over the Atlantic ocean, headed for England. She had packed her luggage at the cottage and bought herself and her son a ticket on the earliest boat heading out of the New York harbor. She felt almost sick with what her lost love had told her. Told her she should kill him so he could be free.

Edith sat in the cabin that was assigned to her, with her son on her lap. There was a rap at the metal door and she called for whoever it was, to enter. Thomas turned the knob and slipped inside. The two of them boarded the ship in different places, at different times, so none of the other passengers or crew members would find it suspicious. He had dressed casually in loose slack, a button down shirt with a loose tie around his neck and a black blazer. She gave him a smile and patted a hand on the top of the bed for him to join her. He hesitated at first and then sat beside her. This time her son was awake and curious of the stranger that had entered the cabin with his mother.

"Thomas," she kissed the top of his head, his curls of black hair, "this man is a close friend of mama. His name is Thomas." Her son reached out his hand to Thomas and he took it with a smile. "See? He likes you already," Edith smiled at her love.

"I'm sure he will not remember this, and I'm glad he won't."

"I couldn't just leave him behind with Alan. He would get suspicious, like last time. And Thomas...he doesn't like when he looses sight of me. He throws a fit."

"As he should," he gave her a smile, "I would do the same."

"Then he truly is your son, Thomas."

She stood up, with her son in her arms, she walked over to his pram and settled him in. She had taken blocks and set them under the wheels as makeshift breaks. The constant rhythmic rocking of the boat on the choppy water gave a natural feeling of being rocked to sleep and Thomas closed his eyes. She kissed him on the cheek before she turned away and returned to the bed and her long lost love. "He will be out for some time now," she gave him a sweet smile as she stood in front of him, grabbed for his hands and rested them over her hips.

"Edith..."

She cut off his speaking as she leaned down, her hands on the side of his face, and kissed him tentatively on the lips at first and then kissed him deeply the second time. Thomas was tense at first, but then began to relax as she kissed him more and more each time. His hands had moved from her hips, up her side and around her back as he tugged her body down against his.

"You going to help me out of this dress? It's quite...constricting," she whispered in his ear.

His hands worked with the ties and the buttons in the back of her dress as it slid to the floor with its own weight. She stood before him now, dressed in nothing more than a silk corset and bloomers. He pulled her back towards him and laid her out on the bed as he pulled her bloomers down and kissed his way up legs and inner thighs, looking up her body with those haunting eyes. Edith shuddered in ecstasy at watching Thomas at work. Much like that special time they stayed in the spare room down at the post office, do to the winter storm, they could not make it back to Allerdale Hall. Those same feelings of that night washed over her. She had her Thomas back, she had her lover, her mysterious stranger.

His hands swept under her back as she arched it up and he skillfully worked the ties of her corset. She didn't want to know how he learned such expertise, as a conjured image of Lucille came to mind and Edith shook her head. She reached down for him and pulled him up her body for a kiss. For not having quite a soul, he was surprisingly warm to the touch. His tongue crushed against the roof of her mouth and she arched her back, pressed her body up against his as their heat melded there, wrapped in the sheets of the cabin on a ship bound for the old world.

"I've missed you, Thomas," she whispered, captured his face with her hands and made him look at her. "I...do we really have to do this? Do I have to...kill you?" She choked on the last word, as she did not want to believe it, she would not believe it. She would never kill her one true love.

"I am merely nothing, Edith. My earthly ties...are..."

"I...understand," she whispered and closed her eyes as she pulled him back down against her body and wrapped her legs around his lower back as he had nudged himself deeply inside of her. To feel him once more, was a feeling Edith thought she would never experience ever again. It was truly a dream come true. Their love making lasted for several hours, left Edith exhausted and spent while Thomas remained with his calm composure. She smiled at the sight of him, though he sat on the end of the bed and pulled his slacks back on and worked on cinching his belt tight around his almost non-existent waist. She sat up and slid off the bed to check on her son, plucked him out of his pram and held him against her breast as she returned to the bed and Thomas. He turned his head curiously to look at her and her baby. "You...aren't embarrassed about this, are you?" she asked softly with a blush as her son began to feed.

"No," he shook his head. "I've...seen it before..."

"Your...baby...Enola...," she whispered and the memories came back to her, she had learned Thomas had a child before, with Lucille. When he brought Enola home with him, she had said she could take care of the small babe. "I'm...sorry, Thomas..."

"That was the past, Edith," the turned and gave her a warm smile that she felt deep in her soul. The boat lisped side to side and soon even she was being lulled to sleep by the movement.

Thomas took the opportunity to move Edith under the covers of her bed, with their son at her side, before he slipped out of the cabin and stepped out into the air upon the deck of the small ship that carried up to one hundred other passengers on the trip across the Atlantic to England. He could feel they were drawing close, Crimson Peak had a tether tied to him and he felt it was pulling on the other end. Soon they would reach land and Allerdale Hall.

"Thomas..."

He opened his tired eyes from where he sat in a chair in the corner of Edith's cabin. Without a soul, he need not sleep, but he preferred to rest his eyes. He looked over for Edith, but she continued to stay asleep. Beside the bed though was a dark gray haze in the vague shape of a woman wearing an old long Victorian dress.

"Thomas, my baby brother," it spoke as it approached him and he did not bat an eyelash. "You are going to join me."

"Lucille," he whispered her name and he could make out her features more clearly now. "How are you here?"

"My spirit...is there," she pointed back to the grey stuffed bunny rabbit his son kept clutched to himself during sleep. "I...hitched a ride back from Allerdale with Edith. Thomas, I am so glad to see you...alive."

"Not for much longer, Lucille. You know my plan now..."

"I do, baby brother. And I...am not going to stop you."

There was silence between the two that drug out and then Thomas spoke.

"You always are hatching plans, Lucille..."

"Not this time, Thomas. I'm through. Edith...she's stronger than me...and you son...your son...he is strong too. I...watch over him...see to him...see you in him."

"Can he see you?"

"I believe he can," she looked back to him. "He is much like his mother, much like you."

He stood up and walked over to bed, peered down on his sleeping son and laid a hand down on him. His fingers brushed over the other stuffed bunny, the one Edith told that she got for him before he was even born.

"It is so bad, Thomas. A spirit, caught in form of a bunny rabbit. It's...in a way, I'm closer to you...though close to Edith also."

"You are not to harm her," he growled lowly.

"Oh no, dear brother. Though I still harbor hatred and jealousy towards her, I...can not harm her."

Thomas leaned down to kissed his son on the cheek and then the same to Edith as they both slept soundlessly without any knowledge of the conversation being carried on before man and spirit in the small cabin aboard the ship.

"So you have come to terms with your death, Lucille?"

"I have. I feel...free, watching over your son."

"You're not harming him either."

"Never! He is precious. He is...what I couldn't have."

Thomas returned to his chair and sunk down into it. He closed his tired eyes and took in a deep breath.

"Then it is settled, sister. I know where I am going after I die. It is not heaven, it is not hell."

The ship had made it smoothly into port, docked and was tethered. All the crew then helped the passengers disembark the vessel. Thomas had help Edith pack the few pieces of luggage she had and their son's pram before the two of them left the ship along with the other passengers. Thomas stayed by Edith's side as they were able to hail down a carriage that would take them out of the city to Cumberland.

The port city weather was dreary, fog had followed in their ship and mixed with the soot in the air from the local factories and the chimneys of local homes. Edith coughed and arranged a blanket draped over her son's pram to protect him from the air. When the covered carriage stopped and Thomas loaded their belongings inside, did Edith relax. She had her son in her arms and a comfy bench to sit on while Thomas sat across from her.

The carriage started on its way and Edith settled back with her son for his morning breakfast.

"I must admit, this is better than being on that ship. I still...can't get over the rocking motion and trying to walk."

He just smiled at her. "Well, you only have to do it one more time and then you don't have to be on another ship for as long as you live, Edith."

"Returning home," she whispered sadly and looked down at her son as he had his eyes closed as he slowly drank, one hand gripped tight to her breast, left red marks. "I...don't want to..."

"Shhh...Edith...you will be fine. I promise you. You...trust me, don't you?"

"I...," she hesitated as her eyes stung with tears. "I do, Thomas..."

"You, a strong and grown woman."

"I am."

He reached across the inside of the carriage and gently took his son from her arms. He looked down on him as he opened those large green eyes of his. He could see much of himself in his son, but also what was reflected back was of Edith.

"He likes you," she smiled and blushed brightly as she watched Thomas cradled the boy in his arms. The two were like jigsaw puzzle pieces, joined together perfectly without any flaws. "The two of you...I'm sad he has to grow up...not knowing his father...without a father..."

"I wouldn't have made a good father anyway, Edith. Besides, Alan could be his father figure. Surely he looks up to him."

"He does," Edith smoothed out her dress as she fixed herself up before she took her son back from Thomas. "He doesn't completely trust Alan either." She rocked her son in her arms until he drifted off to sleep and she sat him beside her on the bench seat inside the coach. She then tried to stand up, the carriage wheel hit a hole in the road and she was thrown against Thomas. She blushed slightly as she sat in his lap. He looked at her, puzzled, but in turn wrapped his arms around her. She pressed her lips firmly against his for one kiss, then another and another. It took several tries until Thomas opened his mouth completely to her. Their tongues danced as their lips locked and after a good long time, Edith pulled back to breathe. "Thomas," she smiled as she cupped his face in her small hands and brushed her right thumb over the scar on his cheek.

"Edith Cushing," he spoke back to her with a grin.

"Sharpe," she corrected him with another kiss as the carriage rocked side to side on the rocky road. "We have some time...lets spend it doing...what we missed," she rested her forehead against his. "I love you, Thomas."

"I love you too, Edith," he spoke, "but please, sit back down. We don't' have time...for love making. We'll be at Allerdale soon. I can feel it in my bones." Edith looked him in the eyes sadly before she slipped from his lap and returned to her seat across from him, wringing her hands in her lap.

She turned her attention to looking out the window of the carriage, to the country side as it went by and she too felt they were close to Allerdale Hall. The place where she lost a bit of herself, while Lucille and Thomas were poisoning her. She picked up her son and held him tightly against her as they soon passed through the arched gateway to Crimson Peak. She did not really want to bring him here, to show him where his life started, but here they were. The carriage soon came to a stop and Thomas stepped out first to speak with the driver. Edith stepped out with her son and looked up at the dilapidated mansion. It looked about the same as when she first arrived here a few years back. Thomas paid the driver, unloaded their luggage and then carried it into the house.

Edith turned to watch the carriage as it turned and slowly became smaller and smaller on the horizon. She turned back to Thomas and followed him inside. The floor boards beneath her shoes groaned and wheezed until the red clay from the mines below bubbled up between the floor boards. She side stepped them quickly and looked up at the hole that was still gaping large in roof.

"It's still the same," she whispered and shuddered against the cold as she continued to hold onto her son tightly as she took to the stairs after Thomas. He moved them into his room. Their room, where they share few nights in that grand bed. Every time Edith woke up, he was not there beside her. "Thomas...all those nights, I was scared, I woke and found you not by my side, to comfort me, you were..."

"With Lucille," he answered her before she could finish and he set up little Thomas' pram before he took her up to the attic, to Lucille's room. She came to a stop as she looked the bed over and her heart raced back to the night that Enola's ghost pointed out to her where Thomas was. She had followed the lullaby and found Thomas and Lucille caught up in the act of such wicked taboo. Her knees felt weak as she moved to a nearby chair and sunk down onto it. Thomas came back to her; he carried in his arms an old crib. "Edith?" he asked as he set the crib down and then approached to check on her. "You feeling alright?"

"Just...light headed. I'm fine, Thomas," she batted away his hand as her memories continued to race. "Is that...?"

"I made it for my...baby...back when...I was so excited to be a father and I couldn't stop my hands from building something special and unique for my child. Edith...it is Thomas' now," he gave her a smile. "Come, we can take it back to my room." He picked it back up and Edith forced herself to stand once more and followed Thomas down a couple flights back to the bedroom. She took the blankets from her son's pram and moved them into the crib before she settled him into it. She brought him both his stuffed bunnies and smiled down on him. He fit perfectly in the crib, swaddled in his blankets. She touched the railing of the crib and it began to rock side to side.

"A...rocking crib, Thomas?" she looked up at him, surprised.

"Yeh. Better than a simple old crib, don't you agree?"

"Your skills in carpentry will always amaze me, Thomas. The things you can make with your hands."

"I had much time on my hands back in the days, Edith," he approached her, took her hands in his and twirled her around quickly on her feet. She giggled softly and hid her face against his chest as she wrapped her arms around him tightly.

"I don't want to loose you again, Thomas. It would break my heart."

"Know that your heart may break, but it will always mend," he hooked his right index finger under her chin and tiled her head up to look at him as he kissed her. "But tomorrow, I must be set free. The carriage will return to pick you and Thomas up. Take anything you like from the house. It is all yours, Edith."

"I want you," she hid her face against him again as tear stung her eyes, but she did not want him to see her cry.

"Edith," he kissed the top of her head and rubbed a hand up and down her back, "I will be with you. I will be at your side. You may not know it, you may not see me, but I will be there."

One last time they came together in a heated embrace, pressed firmly against against each other's naked forms beneath the sheets of the grand bed. Edith wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs locked around the small of his back and kept him flushed against her as she felt his tongue lap against the side of her neck and gave her tender bites. She shut her eyes and tried her hardest to just remember this time spent together, as it would be their last and she would never feel him against her ever again. She would never feel his touch, his hands against her stomach, his mouth against her skin, his essence inside of her. It made Edith's heart ache and she held on tighter to Thomas.

She glanced over to the fire and saw only embers burning. There was a raging inferno in the fireplace when they started, but as the night wore on, the fire slowly died, much like her heart. She captured Thomas' face in her hands and kissed him over and over.

"Love..."

"Shh," Thomas moved a finger over her lips and she continued to stare up at him with wide hazel eyes. "Just take this all in. I am." At that he kissed her lips gently and the two fell asleep in each other's embrace.

Edith was stirred out of her sleep by sun light that filtered in through the window. The heavy drapes had been pulled back, showing a window she did not even know was there. She ran her hands under the sheets, over the mattress in hopes of running into Thomas' sleeping form. He was not there. She sat up now and clutched the sheets against her naked body. Her eyes focused and she saw a gown laid out on the bed for her. It was clearly one that belonged to Lucille, the stitching was immaculate. She ran her fingers over it and felt a chill that ran through her body. Thomas expected her to wear this? She was weary, but she slipped out of bed and pulled on the deep blue gown and pulled back her long unruly hair.

She looked down on her son in his new crib and he stared back up at her with such large green eyes. He spoke of one word to her with a smile on his chubby face. "Lu!" She frowned at him and shook her head, but noticed he was not looking at his new bunny, which he also named Lu, and was looking right at her. She blushed.

"No, Thomas. Just mama...not Lu..."

"Lu," he said again happily and she sighed, plucked him out of his crib to hold him and kissed his cheeks.

"You are the silliest boy I have ever met," she smiled at him and he giggled in glee before she noticed he was looking back over her shoulder. She slowly turned to see a dark grey apparition. She held onto Thomas tightly. She knew it to be not to be one of those who died at Crimson Peak and dumped into one of the clay pits.

"Lu," Thomas spoke with a smiled and held out a hand towards the apparition and it approached them, floating.

"No, Thomas...bad...bad...we don't want ghosts..."

"Luci," he dipped his head and hid his face against her neck. She stared at the figure as it became clearer.

"Lucille," she whispered. She should have guessed her sister-in-law's ghost would be here at Allerdale. "You...are not going to harm him."

"Who are you talking to?"

Edith blinked her eyes quickly as she saw Thomas as he stood in the doorway with a tray in his arms.

"N...no one," she shook her head and Lucille's ghost was gone from her vision. He gave her a smile and approached her with the try.

"You...look nice in that dress. I meant to catch you still in bed though."

"I...could get back in bed. Thomas...I don't feel right wearing something that was...Lucille's..."

"Lucille's dresses, I thought...only you could fit," he spoke as he set down the tray on the bead. The meal was nothing too fancy, but a bowl of porridge and a cup of steaming tea. "They are not poisoned," he spoke as he caught her staring at the things on the tray. She handed him her baby as she sat down to eat the small meal. He walked around the room with his son in his arms, humming to him.

"Take him up to your work shop," Edith suggested with a blush. "I'm sure he would be interested in all the things you have made."

Thomas took his son a few flights of stairs up to the attic, to his work shop. He set him down on the work bench as he turn the electricity back in. He was surprised it still worked and that the wires had not shortened out. He returned to find that his son was staring at the automaton he had assembled years ago. Thomas wound it up and set it back in front of the small boy. The automaton began to do its trick, hiding a small metal ball under a cup and switching the cups around. The small boy then pointed to one cup and the automaton raised it arm, there was no ball. The boy frowned in frustration, as his eyes clearly followed the movement. The automaton opened its mouth and the ball fell out. The little boy stared and then clapped his hands together in glee as he laughed.

"You like that one, didn't you?" Thomas asked with a smile, to see the small child take such interest and joy in things that kept him happy when he was but a child also. "Thomas, this is all yours. All these toys," he spoke as he brought over a small wooden horse he had carved for Lucille, "all of these are yours now. I'll put together a box for you and your mother to take back to the states with you." He found a crate and began to load his smaller inventions into it for his son to admire and learn from as he grows up.

"Thomas. Thomas," came Edith's voice and both of them turned their heads to the doorway to see Edith as she stood there, still wearing one of Lucille's dresses. "There's my boys," she smiled as she glided into the shop and picked up her son, kissing his cheeks before she turned to look at her husband. "Thomas, what are you doing?"

"Packing some of my inventions for you to take back to the states with you, for Thomas." He finished one crate and slid a plank of wood over the top of it, keeping it sealed. "I told him, everything in here is now his," he made a motion with his hand, gestured to the entire attic. "He might as well...have something to remember me by." She stood and stared at him, a blushed appeared across the top of her cheeks. The two did not speak as Thomas finished his work and took the crate down to the front door, along with Edith's luggage, ready to be picked up when the carriage returned to take her back to port, without him.

He had built up a blazing fire in the grand fire place in the foyer. Edith stood in front of it, with her son in her arms, she stared into the flames. The did not warm her. Instead they almost tried to reach out to her, like long fingers. She was startled as she heard Thomas move up behind her and set his hands on her shoulders.

"It's almost time."

"No," she turned around and looked up at him, as hot tears streamed down her cheeks. "Why? Why do I ..."

"Edith," he smiled at her, leaned in and kissed her damp cheeks and over her closed eyes. "Do this for me. It will be quick and painless. I won't feel a thing. I promise." He took her by the hand and led her to the kitchen. Red clay continued to ooze out of the tiled walls and trickled down much like blood. It always made Edith feel a bit sick inside.

"Lucille was a master at science," Thomas spoke as he opened up the door to the cupboard and almost disappeared into it, looking for something. "She learned to procure arsenic residue from clay. It's what she used to kill our father."

"Your father...was a wicked man," Edith spoke up for Thomas to hear her. She had done her research of the Sharpes, after she returned to the states with Alan. "I...can't blame Lucille for wanting to murder him."

"And my mother," Thomas added.

"She...," Edith paused, "was mean too."

He stepped back with a bottle in his hand and Edith took a step back out of fear. The memories of Lucille poisoning her teas flooded back to her.

"This is the highest concentration Lucille ever collected. It will kill me in a few seconds. I won't feel a thing, Edith," he showed her the vial as he backed her out of the kitchen. "I take this and when I'm gone, I want you to move my body into the fire. Understand, Edith? If I die in this house, like last time, it won't work. You need to burn my body. Only then can I be set free." He led her back toward the fireplace as she clutched tightly to her son and looked Thomas in the eyes. "Edith, I love you," he uncapped the vial and brought it to his lips as he tilted his head back and downed it.

Edith watched in horror with wide eyes as Thomas tilted his head back, along with the vial of pure poison and swallowed it. She watched him drop it and the glass shattered against the floorboards and he sank his body down into the chair beside the fire, its shape was that of a giant moth.

"THOMAS!" she screamed as she quickly set her son down, not wanting to watch with his innocent eyes what she had to do next. She sank to her knees in front of the chair, between his legs, with tears in her eyes as she choked on her words. "Th...thomas...Thomas," she shakily grabbed at his hands and he gave her a faint smile and looked at her one last time through his eyes before they slowly closed. "Thomas," she cried and brought her forehead down against his hands, she felt his heat slowly draining. She didn't know how long she was there, clutching onto him before she felt her legs start to go to sleep.

She forced herself up on her feet and she tugged on Thomas' body. She got to budge him as she drug him towards the large fireplace. Tears clouded her vision as she stared into the fire and she rolled his body into it.

"R...rest in peace, Thomas Sharpe," she spoke under her breath as the flame welcomed the sacrifice and lapped against Thomas' body. She covered her face with her hands, as not to watch the horror. She did not see the bright light that came out of the fireplace, circled around her a few times before it headed to where her son was. Little Thomas clutched his two stuffed bunny rabbits tightly to himself. The light approached and danced before him before it entered the white rabbit.

Edith pulled her hands down and turned her back on the fireplace. Allerdale was cold and she felt scared being the only one in the large living house. The winds caused it to creak and groan, almost as if it were wheezing. She looked at her son and then towards the library.

There came a knock on the door that brought Edith back to reality.

"Mrs. Sharpe?"

"The carriage man," she breathed a sigh of relief as she picked up her son and walked to open the front door. The man on the other side, dressed in a fine warm suit, happily entered the mansion to pick up her luggage. "There's one other thing I'd like to take with me. But I'm not strong. Would you mind?"

"What is it, mam'?"

"The piano in the drawing room, I would like to take it back with me to the states."

"I'll see what I can do, mam'," he spoke and she lead him into the drawing room and showed him Lucille's piano. After all the things Lucille tried to do to her, poison her, slash her to death, Edith had come to forgive her sister-in-law. The piano was also an antique and Edith did not want to think of it slowly dilapidating along with the house. Once loaded into the carriage, she cuddled her son and kissed him on the forehead as she gave one last look at Allerdale Hall outside of the carriage window and they started on their way back to port to board another ship.

"You...what? Edith!" Alan voiced how he felt, shocked. She sat on the bench in front of the grand piano she brought back with her on the ship.

"I had to, Alan. It was...I just had to," she stroked a few keys in frustration, for she did not know how to play piano. "Besides, I'm home safe now. Thomas and I," she smiled at her son in his new rocking crib beside the piano, as he held tightly to his rabbits. She reached for the white one and he smiled up at her.

"Thomas!" he said happily.

"Is that what you named him?" she smiled at her son and his vivid imagination. "Are you a bunny?"

"Thomas," he said again and then shook his head at her second question and she stared at him.

"Oh...oh alright," she blushed as she stood up and turned to face Alan.

"Edith...I just received word," he handed a newspaper over to her that was just delivered, from England. The main title said it all. Allerdale Hall had burned down, the remains then were claimed by the clay mines and sunk back into the earth. Edith's heart raced before she looked back her son. "I'm sorry..."

"No, don't be. Good riddance, I say. That old place was falling apart as it was. It's good that it can finally rest." Along with her lover's soul. She did not know that, Thomas Sharpe was right beside her. Both the Sharpe siblings with her, just in disguise and only innocent eyes knew of the specters from Crimson Peak.


End file.
